By Destine Nde
‘Roads are like political statements. Their very existence, or their state of disrepair, speaks volumes about whose movement truly matters, whose lives are considered less important, and whose well-being is ignored.’
Thus writes Dr Siyabulela Christopher Fobosi, a senior researcher at the University of Port Hare, in a recent article in Daily Maverick. Based on extensive research, it deals with the poor state of the roads in the Eastern Cape, and its far-reaching impact on both rural and urban communities.
‘Poor or nonexistent infrastructure – like roads full of potholes or bus routes that simply don’t exist – leads to deep isolation, reinforces inequality, and silences the voices of those living on the fringes.’
The statistics, Fobosi writes, paint a grim picture. According to the Eastern Cape Department of Transport (ECDoT), more than 90 per cent of the province roads are unpaved, and almost all of these are in poor or very poor condition. Even the paved roads are generally rated as ‘poor’.
This has far-reaching impacts on people’s daily lives. In the Joe Gqabi District, for example, small-scale farmers lose up to 30 per cent of their produce – fresh fruit and vegetables – due to bruising in trucks on the unforgiving roads.
Similarly, minibus taxi owners frequently avoid certain rural routes because the constant repair costs to their vehicles outweigh any potential earnings. As a result, elderly residents have to walk for kilometres to reach medical clinics.
In Duncan Village, students routinely miss morning lectures because flooded potholes make the road impassable, trapping them in their neighbourhoods. ‘These incidents show that infrastructure is not merely a question of concrete and tar; it is, quite literally, an essential part of our constitutional rights – to health, to education and to work.’
Indeed, Fobosi points out that the South African Human Rights Commission has declared the state of the Eastern Cape’s roads a human rights violation, specifically citing breaches of sections 27 (right to health care), 29 (right to education) and 22 (freedom of trade, occupation and profession) of the Constitution.
In the process, he writes, historical injustices under apartheid spatial planning are being perpetuated. ‘Today, roads in middle-class suburbs are meticulously repaired, but are deeply broken in black townships, and virtually invisible in remote villages. The ECDoT estimates a huge R30.5-billion maintenance backlog, yet its annual budget for road repairs is a tiny R700 million. This lack of funding ensures that the legacy of broken infrastructure continues.’
Among his proposed solutions are road condition audits, directly linked to dedicated, performance-based grants; truly participatory budgeting at the municipal level, empowering residents to set priorities themselves; well-managed public-private partnerships; and legal action. ‘Framing ongoing neglect under sections 27, 29 and 22 of the Constitution could turn what is often dismissed as a mere service delivery issue into a legal violation of fundamental human rights, forcing the state to act.’
In conclusion, he describes the Eastern Cape as a ‘living example of overlapping peripheries’: ‘Here, rural villages are peripheral to provincial capitals; townships are peripheral to city centres; and the province itself often finds itself peripheral to national investment priorities. In each of these layers of marginalisation, a worn, broken road represents the social infrastructure that either connects or, more often, widens the gap between people and opportunity.’
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Inspired by this article, I decided to take a closer look at the state of Willowmore’s roads. First, I checked the only two roads that connect Willowmore with the outside world: the N9 is not bad, but the R329 is terrible. It’s so narrow that I actually measured it with a tape measure – it’s just 3,4 metres wide. When two vehicles pass each other in opposite directions, they have to drive half on the tar and half on the gravel. What’s worse, even the tarred section is littered with potholes.
Thereafter I inspected the internal roads, and found – to my amazement – that many of them where being repaired. Dirk Kruger, a municipal official, told me this was being done under a big contract awarded by the Eastern Cape Department of Roads and Infrastructure.
I also spoke with Henry Blouw, among others, chair of the Baviaans Residents Committee, and an influential local leader. He explained to me how community members could gradually win contracts to repair roads and other aspects of the town’s infrastructure.
The community leader Henry Blouw. He also chairs the local Community Police Forum.
Local government elections are actively contested. However, Willowmore is still a long way off from local budgeting priorities being set by empowered local residents.
FEATURED IMAGE: the R329 between Willowmore and Steytlerville. All photographs by the author.